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Cauldron Tournament
The Cauldron Tankathlon Tournament is a major tournament event featured in Girls und Panzer: Ribbon Warrior. History The Cauldron Tournament was organised by Darjeeling after the match between Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe and Centipede-BC Freedom Alliance, according to her "one day, many girls with passion for sensha-dō from many schools were encouraged to visit a tankathlon event". All the twenty teams were presented via beginning ceremony, moderated by the member of Ooarai broadcasting club Taiga Ou. Numerous clubs were doing their best to raise money to cover the costs, for example by organizing bets. The rules in this tournament were simply to follow the tankathlon rule of not using a tank heavier than 10 tons. There were several other additional rules that were different in each round. Staff *Darjeeling (Organizer) *Asparagus (Administrator) *Nilgiri (Staff) *Yukari Akiyama (Staff) *Rukuriri (Bookmaker) *Taiga Ou (Commentator/Moderator) *ONI-Team (Maintenance Team) **Rei Kodai **Kaoru Saeki **Sei Takizawa *Leopon Team (Maintenance Team) **Nakajima **Hoshino **Suzuki **Tsuchiya *Anteater Team (Rescue Team) **Nekota **Piyotan **Momoga Participants These are the teams that participate to Tankathlon Tournament (in the bracket order): *'#1 Flying Tankers Volunteer Group:' **Affiliation: Saunders University High School **Leader: Kay (doesn't participate in the matches) **Commander: Alisa **Vehicles: T7 Combat Car **Aircrafts: B-29 Stratofortress (Used to carry Hamilcar gliders), General Aircraft Halmicar (Gliders to carry the tanks), Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey. *'#2 Centipede Team:' **Affiliation: Tatenashi High School **Leader and Commander: Shizuka Tsuruki **Driver: Rin Matsukaze **Vehicles: Type 97 Te-Ke (Single Tank Team) *'#3 Bonple High School:' **Leader and Commander: Jajka **Co-Commander: Uszka **Vehicles: 7TP *'#4 Chindits:' **Affiliation: St. Gloriana Girls College: **Leader and Commander: Orange Pekoe **Co-commander: Rosehip **Vehicles: Light Tank Mk.VII Tetrarch *'#5 Nibelungen Team:' **Affiliation: Kuromorimine Girls Academy **Leader and Commander: Nishizumi Mask (Disguised as Zorori) **Vehicles: Pz.Kpfw II Ausf.F (Single Tank Team) *'#6 Tategoto High School:' **Leader and Commander: Aung-san **Vehicles: Type 95 Ha-Go *'#7 Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe:' **Affiliation: Kuromorimine Girls Academy **Leader and Commander: Erika Itsumi **Co-commander: Koume Akaboshi **Vehicles: Pz.Kpfw II Ausf.F *'#8 Duck Team:' **Affiliation: Ooarai Girls Academy **Leader: Possibly Miho Nishizumi (doesn't participate in the matches) **Commander: Noriko Isobe **Vehicles: Type 89B I-Go Otsu (Single Tank Team) *'#9 Fifth Republic Platoon:' **Affiliation: BC Freedom High School: **Leader and Commander: Asparagus **Co-commander: Moule and Bordeaux **Vehicles: Renault R35 and M22 Locust *'#10 Polite Girls:' **Affiliation: Pravda Girls High School **Leader and Commander: Katyusha (Anonymously disguised) **Co-commander: Nonna & Klara (Anonymously disguised) **Vehicles: T-60 and T-70 *'#11 Maple High School:' **Leader and Commander: Trout **Vehicles: Light Tank Mk.VIB *'#12 Chi-Ha-Tan Academy:' **Leader and Commander: Kinuyo Nishi **Co-Commander: Fukuda **Vehicles: Type 95 Ha-Go *'#13 Katyusha's Volunteer Army:' **Affiliation: Pravda Girls High School **Leader and Commander: Nina **Co-commander: Alina **Vehicles: T-60 *'#14 Anzio Girls High School:' **Leader and Commander: Anchovy **Co-Commanders: Carpaccio & Pepperoni **Vehicles: Carro Veloce CV.33 (normal ones & some equipped with Solothurn AT Gun) *'#15 Viggen High School:' **Leader & Commander: Semla **Vehicles: Stridsvagn m/40 *'#16 Maginot Girls' Academy:' **Leader and Commander: Eclair **Co-commander: Fondue **Vehicles: FT-17 *'#17 Kebab High School:' **Leader and Commander: Bosphorus **Vehicles: Renault R35 *'#18 Guy Fawkes Team:' **Affiliation: St. Gloriana Girls College: **Leader and Commander: Black Tea Mask (Disguised as Guy Fawkes) **Driver: Assam **Vehicles: Light Tank Mk.VIII Harry Hopkins (Single Tank Team) *'#19 Gregor High School:' **Leader and Commander : Kafka **Co-commander : Mucha **Vehicles: CKD AH-IV and LT vz.38 *'#20 West Kureoji Grona High School:' **Leader and Commander: Kiri Shiratori **Vehicles: Light Tank Mk.VII Tetrarch (with Little John Adaptator) *'Team Oni:' **Members: Rei Kodai, Kaoru Saeki, Sei Takizawa **Vehicles: 2 x Type 94 Tankettes (with twin autocannons and with unmanned turret) Round 1 'Rules' For the 1st round there are 3 additional rules to make the tournament interesting: *1) Each match has its own victory condition *2) Both competing teams may call for a reinforcement in form of one vehicle from other teams (Yojimbo rule) **The reinforcement is not obliged to follow commands, making betrayals or any other form of twisting the situation possible *3) The losing team will fight under the command of the winner in the next round, making the finals a huge battle of all the participating teams. 'Match #1 - Flying Tankers Volunteer Group vs. Centipede Team' *Match Type: 1 vs 1 Flag battle *Participants: **Flying Tankers Volunteer Group ***Tanks: T7 Combat Car (Alisa) ***Yojimbo: T7 Combat Car (Naomi) **Centipede Team ***Tanks: Type 97 Te-Ke ***Yojimbo: T7 Combat Car (Kay) *Winner: Centipede Team After both opponents met each other in the rough terrain, their respective Yojimbos joined the battle. Alisa's reinforcement, Naomi in another T7 Combat Car, came first followed by Shizuka Tsuruki's choice, Kay also in a T7. Both parties aimed their cannons on each other with Kay aiming her gun at Naomi and Naomi aiming at Shizuka, but Kay suddenly aimed at Centipede's tank as she was not obliged to follow her commands a move that didn't surprise Shizuka . This betrayal got punished, because Centipede team disabled the enemy's flag tank right away, while it itself was eliminated as well, but the video record proved that Arisa's tank was hit first, thus the Centipede team was declared a victor. Surprisingly Alisa asked Naomi and Kay to pull back and not attack Shizuka in what can be descriped as an out of character moment. 'Match #2 - Chindits vs. Bonple High School' *Match Type: 3 vs 3 Annihilation match *Participants: **Chindits ***Tanks: Tetrarch (Orange Pekoe) ♦ Tetrarch (Rosehip) ♦ Tetrarch ***Yojimbo: Tetrarch (Rukuriri) **Bonple High School ***Tanks: 7TP (Jajka) ♦ 7TP (Uzska) ♦ 7TP (Pierogi) ***Yojimbo: Unknown (maybe none) * Winner: Bonple High School The match between Chindits (total amateurs in tankathlon) and Bonple (commander Jajka is a Tankathlon veteran) took place in the fields divided by a small forest. Chindits, made of 1st years of St. Gloriana, refused Darjeeling to be their Yojimbo and fought valiantly. In the first stage of battle they managed to halt Bonple's advance and Rukuriri, their Yojimbo, made her fast ambush from behind. But Rukuriri could only see two Bonple cannons aiming at her tank, immobilizing it. Skilled Bonple girls anticipated such a trap, moreover Chindits misunderstood the Yojimbo rule. Jajka then called to charge the enemy head-on and swiftly eliminated another Chindits tank. Rosehip attempted to make things even by the use of her speed, but she failed and was eliminated quickly too. Just before Orange Pekoe could ask the crew of her remaining tank to change position, she too was eliminated by a direct shot. After the match Jajka told Orange Pekoe to gain more experience in the battles ahead in order to become useful, in which Orange Pekoe comply. Chindits' horrible performance was quite a disappointment to the spectators who refused to believe they were from St. Gloriana. 'Match #3 - Tategoto High School vs Nibelungen Team' *Match Type: 5 vs 1 King of the Hill Annihilation match *Participants: **Tategoto High School ***Tanks: Type 95 Ha-Go (Aung-san) ♦ Type 95 Ha-Go ♦ Type 95 Ha-Go ♦ Type 95 Ha-Go ♦ Type 95 Ha-Go ***Yojimbo: Unknown **Nibelungen Team ***Tanks: Panzer II Ausf.F (Nishizumi Mask) ***Yojimbo: Unknown * Winner: Nibelungen Team The match took place in the nearby spa town of Nozawa-onsen with Nibelungen's tank being the sole defender of the town. Just before the match, Darjeeling renamed Maho Nishizumi as Nishizumi Mask, making people speculate who the commander truly is. Tategoto girls made their moves to downtown and sent several machinegunners as scouts on the roofs of town's buildings to scout for Nishizumi's Panzer II but everyone failed to see it. A sudden shot from behind eliminated one Tategoto tank which revealed Nishizumi's position. All four remaining tanks made their way through three streets to encircle the enemy, but it vanished again thank to tall buildings. Nishizumi Mask made a surprise comeback in a well arranged crossway in the end of the the right street where the Panzer II eliminated two other tanks. Next tank was destroyed through the narrow space between two buildings and Aung's tank was shot from behind afterwards. Aung regretted she had never seen the enemy in the battle. Thus Nibelungen Team emerged victorious. 'Match #4 - Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe vs Duck Team' *Match Type: 3 vs 1 Arrival match *Participants: **Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe ***Tanks: Panzer II Ausf.F (Erika) ♦ Panzer II Ausf.F (Koume) ♦ Panzer II Ausf.F (Bauer) ***Yojimbo: Unknown **Duck Team ***Tanks: Type 89B ***Yojimbo: Unknown *Winner: Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe The match took place in a big city of Jōetsu in Niigata prefecture with Duck Team's objective to reach the beach. Kampfgruppe had to either destroy them or to corner them. Before the match Erika tried to secure Maho as her Yojimbo, but instead Koume Akaboshi asked the Centipede team. Shizuka just proposed her to give a fake Viggen school pamphlet about beach volleyball tournament to the enemy in order to manipulate the agile and effective, but quite dumb Duck team in taking the shortest possible route. While Erika was trying to think how to block a 10 km long line with just three tanks, Duck Team was eliminated quite quickly by a hidden Erika. Duck Team even didn't mind losing the match as they looked forward to play volleyball from other schools (including Akaboshi) present at the beach. 'Match #5 - Chi-Ha-Tan Academy vs Maple High School' *Match Type: 4 vs 4 Annihilation match *Participants: **Chi-Ha-Tan Academy ***Tanks: Type 95 Ha-Go (Kinuyo) ♦ Type 95 Ha-Go (Fukuda) ♦ Type 95 Ha-Go (Hosomi) ♦ Type 95 Ha-Go (Tamada) ***Yojimbo: Type 95 Ha-Go (Mika) **Maple High School ***Tanks: Light Tank Mark.VIB (Trout) ♦ Light Tank Mark.VIB (Oleo) ♦ Light Tank Mark.VIB (Amber) ♦ Light Tank Mark.VIB ***Yojimbo: Fishermen of Uozu *Winner: Chi-Ha-Tan Academy Before the match, Fukuda proposed Duck-dono team should be their Yojimbo, but they were still playing volleyball in Jōetsu. Nishi then saw Mika and her crew from Jatkosota school and begged them to be their Yojimbo instead, to which Mika eventually agreed after giving them lots of rice and one extra Ha-Go. The match took place in the center of Uozu city. While Chi-Ha-Tan was waiting to make an ambush and Jatkosota girls were eating apples in the garden with a local citizen, Maple was making their move and called their Yojimbo, local fishermen who lent them their ship to avoid the streets or hills. Maple girls then made their way in the enemy's rear, but Fukuda anticipated something fishy long before and broke formation with Nishi. Fukuda then ambushed Maple line of tanks, eliminating one and then called for the rest of Chi-Ha-Tan tanks which quickly came, and thank to the chaos, eliminated the rest of Maple school's light tanks Mark VI without losing any of their own tank. That was possible because Jatkosota girls then climbed on the roof of a tall building and provided Fukuda with intel. Both teams received thanks from spectators after the match. As usual, Jatkosota "borrowed" one Type 95 light tank and left the site. 'Match #6 - Polite Girls vs Fifth Republic Platoon' *Match Type: 3 vs 3 Annihilation match *Participants: **Polite Girls ***Tanks: T-60 (Katyusha) ♦ T-60 (Nonna) ♦ T-60 (Klara) ***Yojimbo: Unknown **Fifth Republic Platoon ***Tanks: R35 (Moule) ♦ R35 (Bordeaux) ♦ R35 ***Yojimbo: Unknown * Winner: Polite Girls The match took place during the same time of the fifth match, but it was located in the official Japanese Sensha-do Federation's Northern Practice Field. Fifth Republic Platoon was utterly crushed by Katyusha. Asparagus who had resigned from the post of a commander to become the Cauldron staff regretted that Pravda girls really had much better combat skills, but she determined that the BC Freedom High School must become united and look into the future. After the match Katyusha told Nonna that BC Freedom is so weak they will hinder her in the next round. This match also shown that BC Freedom create a new uniform for the newly unified team that will be used by them in fighting Ooarai in das Finale. 'Match #7 - Anzio High School vs Katyusha's Volunteer Army' *Match Type: 5? vs 5? Annihilation match *Participants: **Anzio High School ***Tanks: CV.33 (Anchovy) ♦ CV.33 (Pepperoni) ♦ CV.33 AT (Amaretto) ♦ CV.33 AT (Gelato) ♦ CV.33 AT ***Yojimbo: CV.33 (Oryou) ♦ CV.33 (Caesar) **Katyusha's Volunteer Army ***Tanks: T-60 (Nina) ♦ T-60 (Alina) ♦ T-60 ♦ T-60 ♦ T-60 ***Yojimbo: T-60 (Saemonza) ♦ T-60 (Erwin) *Winner: Anzio Girls High School The match took place in the village of Makkari in Hokkaido. Both teams chose Hippo Team as their Yojimbo. Erwin and Saemonza allied with Katyusha's Volunteer Army, Caesar and Oryou with Anzio girls. This looks like stretching the "Yojimbo Rule" as it suggest only one additional vehicle, but both teams added two. Nina tried to lead the enemy around by nose in the even and foresty terrain to quietly slip behind their lines, but she suddenly stopped due to her sixth sense. She saw a "ghost" looking like Nonna, which was in reality a cardbox version of her part of Anzio's Operation Macaroni 2,5. Two Anzio tanks lead by Pepperoni and Oryou then shot at one of Nina's tanks, eliminating it. Next distraction came with a drone that startled Alina with a Grim Reaper version of Klara, but Saemonza quickly disposed of it. After this the Volunteer Army made a move against the enemy, but Caesar with Carpaccio stopped them with a Katyusha doll hanging on a pole, as the Operation Macaroni 3. Nina and Alina were instructed not to fall for something like that by Katyusha and eliminated Caesar's tank, unbeknownst to them, in order to do so they entered Anzio's killzone and were quickly annihilated by concentrated fire. During all this time Anzio was slowly encircling the entire Katyusha's Volunteer Army using their Yojimbo as a provocation. Nina and Alina came to knee before Katyusha and begged her not to send them to Siberia. She, surprisingly, only ordered them to continuously learn from next matches. 'Match #8 - Maginot Girls' Academy vs Viggen High School' *Match Type: 2? vs 1? Annihilation match *Participants: **Maginot Girls' Academy ***Tanks: FT-17 (Eclair) ***Yojimbo: None (unaware of the rule) **Viggen High School ***Tanks: Strv m/40 (Semla) ♦ Strv m/40 ***Yojimbo: Unknown * Winner: Maginot Girls' Academy The match took place on Sado Island, Niigata prefecture. Only the ending moments of the battle in the Kitazawa Flotation Plant are seen, where two Strv m/40s are shown being eliminated by Eclair. As she was totally unaware of the Yojimbo rule, she fought all tanks of Viggen without a backup just with her FT-17s alone. She got her usual stomachaches after leaning that she could have had a backup. This was also the first time Eclair's new doctrine of "Saint-Cyr style" mobile warfare brought the desired results. 'Match #9 - Guy Fawkes Team vs Kebab High School' *Match Type: 1 vs 3 King of the Hill Annihilation match *Participants: **Guy Fawkes Team ***Tanks: Harry Hopkins (Black Tea Mask) ***Yojimbo: Unknown **Kebab High School ***Tanks: R35 (Bosphorus) ♦ R35 ♦ R35 ***Yojimbo: Unknown * Winner: Guy Fawkes Team The match between "black tea" and "black coffee" started in a place called Sado mine, with Guy Fawkes led by Black Tea Mask from the town center and Kebab girls led by somewhat overconfident Bosphorus from the coast. Bosphorus lead her Renault R35s into the city where they were all slaughtered by Darjeeling's sole Light Tank Mk. VIII from higher ground. Bosphorus was surprised by her opponent's fast moves but gladly accepted Darjeeling's offer to drink black tea together after the battle. 'Match #10 - West Kureoji Grona High School vs Gregor High School' *Match Type: 2? vs 2? annihilation match *Participants: **West Kureoji Grona High School ***Tanks: Tetrarch (Kilimanjaro) ♦ Tetrarch ***Yojimbo: Unknown **Gregor High School ***Tanks: CKD AH-IV ♦ CKD AH-IV ***Yojimbo: Unknown *Winner: West Kureoji Grona High School Nothing significant is shown in this battle except the commander Kiri Shiratori that have her spirit higher after Darjeeling, her idol, gives her a thumb up and dedicate this victory to Darjeeling-sama herself. Even though the West Kureoji Grona High School is somewhat copying the St. Gloriana school, they proved themselves to fight well against Gregor High School, taking out all their tanks. Their performance was improved by Darjeeling's responds to their commander. This is the last match of the first round. Round 2 'Rules' For the 2nd round there are six rules, very different from the ones from the 1st round. In the morning just before the beginning of the fight, each team opened the letter with official instructions. All the teams recieved their assigned colour, one of five. *1) The teams with the same colours are allies *2) The teams with different colours are enemies *3) Victory depends on each team's destroyed tanks and the total number of surviving allied tanks *4) If a team of the same colour is annihilated, the other team of the same colour is declared annihilated as well *5) The match lasts for 24 hours *6) A guest team labeled "Team ONI" will participate as unaffiliated team, the identity of the Team ONI is considered the surprise. The fighting teams were drawn as follows: * Red: Centipede Team (+ Flying Tankers Volunteer Group) and Bonple High School (+ Chindits) * Blue: Nibelungen Team (+ Tategoto High School) and Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe (+ Duck Team) * Yellow: Polite Girls (+ Fifth Republic Platoon) and Chi-Ha-Tan Academy (+ Maple High School) * Green: Anzio High School (+ Katyusha's Volunteer Army) and Maginot Girls' Academy (+ Viggen High School) * Pink: Guy Fawkes Team (+ Kebab High School) and West Kureoji Grona High School (+ Gregor High School) * Team Oni The fight is thus a six-way battle (4 vs 4 vs 4 vs 4 vs 4 vs 1) 'Prelude' The match started at 12 a.m. and during the 3 hours all the teams were buying their supplies of food and some tools to make themselves comfortable for the next 24 hours. 'Phase 1' All teams went to their starting locations on the large battlefield. Red Team (starts in the northwest) commanded by Shizuka and Jajka did some recon with no enemy moves or attacks observed. Shizuka then proposed the teambuilding event: a tea ceremony, because other members of the team came up with three unrealistic plans but she wanted to get everyone to know each other first. And after that, she wanted to select the overall commander of the Red team. Blue Team (starts in the central area) commanded by Erika and Maho was the first who actually made the first move. Erika asked Maho to be the commander and said that should Maho fail, she herself would take the lead. Maho commanded Tategoto High School to serve as the vanguard along with her sole Nibelungen Team, while the Kampfgruppe was supposed to attack as the main force and Duck Team served as a backup. Maho chose to attack Green Team first using a blitzkrieg tactics to confirm their real strength despite their numbers. The team opened fire upon the first chance. Yellow Team (starts in the southwest) led by Katyusha and Kinuyo Nishi decided to simply move to the next area in a hope to capture enemy supplies. Green Team (starts in the northeast) led by Anchovy and Eclair made an Anzio-style party first to get to know each other. After some time they spotted the Blue team's advance and Anchovy ordered her team to stop the party, build up the defenses and rapidly return the fire with her CV-33s, complaining about "How dare the Kuromorimine girls to interrupt other peoples' meal" but she gladly accepted the challenge. But soon after the start of the skirmish, Anchovy ordered her CV-33s to retreat to the golf field and asked Nina and Semla to hold position. The Maginot Academy tanks were to move around and challenge the Blue Team from the flanks. The Pink Team (starts in the southeast) led by Darjeeling and Kilimanjaro decided to change position and retreat to a calmer spot. Red Team remained the last one to move out. While drinking tea members calmed themselves down, Orange Pekoe asked Shizuka for her opinion about the ongoing battle. Shizuka was convinced the battle would be like fighting the warring states. She then looked sharply as she made up her plan. 'Phase 2' While advancing, Erika carefully observed the Green Team's moves, discovered the Maginot's intentions and determined that they didn't want to make rash attacks. Meanwhile Yellow Team members like Katyusha, Nonna and Kinuyo Nishi borrowed some motorbikes from locals and did a quick recon. They discovered the neutral zone with the Gas station within the battlefield and Katyusha wanted to set traps around it for other teams. Inside the Gas station, they met the elderly ladies from the Tankathlon Supply Store, along with Ooarai's Leopon Team, who offered all team free toilets, repairing their tanks, even the immobilized ones to make them operational again, in the condition that each can only get fixed once. Should the already serviced tanks broken again, participants then must fixed them themselves. But before they took further action, they were interrupted by Darjeeling, who along with the rest of the Pink Team, came to the same place. Polite Girls from the station switch their T-60 with much powerful T-70. Furthermore, members of the Fifth Republic's Platoon received the phone call from Shizuka who proposed a plan to weaken the Blue Team. Before that Shizuka ended the Red Team's tea ceremony and correctly assumed the noises they heard were coming from the Blue vs. Green skirmish and decided to attack Blue Team, mainly Maho Nishizumi's Panzer II to make her fulfill the promise to have a battle with her. Jajka understood her intention and necessity to make alliance with another team and the Reds finally decided to move. However, they were quickly discovered by Tategoto's commander, Aung who commanded her tanks to slowly retreat and return Red's incoming fire. Erika discovered the opening in which she would be able to engage Anchovy, but her attempt was ended with the arrival of the Yellow Team which attacked the Blue Team from behind. Katyusha agreed a temporary alliance with Red Team but her real plan was to annihilate all the participating teams of the skirmish which turned at the Blue Team's disadvantage being literally surrounded. Chi-Ha-Tan girls promptly started their infamous charge attack, only to make Katyusha angry and being annihilated by Maho. This unexpected change of situation made Anchovy to decide to attack Blue Team as well. Maho Nishizumi evaluated her team's situation and made Aung the commander and Erika her vice-commander whose job would've be to ensure successful retreat. Maho herself took the rear guard position and decided to duel the Centipede Team to fulfill her promise to give Shizuka the battle she wanted. 'Phase 3' The duel between Shizuka and Maho taking too long Jajka put an abrupt end to it by shooting Maho, this prevent Centipede Team from being overran by Green Team who arrived to chase Blue Team. Though able to take their tanks to the repairing station in the middle of the field, Maho decided to stay there and let Erika to stand by herself without continuing to rely on her all the time. Meanwhile, as the sunset arrived, Red Team decided to take a break and resting, while sending Jajka and Orange Pekoe to scout the battlefield. In the other side of the field, Pink Team decided to move during the twilight and exchange shots with Yellow Team, in which neither of them willing to advance. During that time, Chi-Ha-Tan, who got their tanks fixed, come and about to charge before Katyusha stopped and reprimanded them not to make any futile charge anymore, slamming them on how stupid their tradition is to just charge and that Chi-Ha-Tan girls is the reason why everyone in Yellow Team got worried. Orange Pekoe arrived at the scene where Blue Team and Green Team fighting fiercely, but as Aung-san and Tategoto were about to get caught in a pincer movement by Maginot and KVA, Duck Team arrived and save them, saying that if Tategoto annihilated, then the whole team would be defeated as well. Koume remarks that due to less number of forces, Blue Team is in a very disadvantaged situation among all teams, but Green Team suddenly stopped their attack to rest and have dinner. Erika and Koume wanted to take advantage to this situation, but since all Blue Team also already tired and running out of ammunition, they have no choice but to retreat, resting, and resupply. Catching their breath for now, all teams prepared for a night battle under new moon, unbeknownst to them, Darjeeling is currently expecting the arrival of the elusive Team Oni. 'Phase 4' In the Blue Team encampment, Tategoto girls brought supplies to the Blue Team for their much needed rest. Erika confronts Aung-san about the next step since, by the elimination of Nishizumi Mask, Aung-san is now the commander of the Blue Team. Erika deducted that they have two options: Attack the Green Team or continue defending while wait for things to changed. However, bolstered by her new role, Aung-san quickly decided to pick up all the immobilize Blue Team members instead in order to survive the night, and take them to repair center, with Erika's approval. After analyzing the situation, Red Team finally decided to help Green Team eliminating Blue Team, since they only need to eliminate Tategoto tanks to defeat Blue Team once and for all. Jajka then radioed Anchovy that they come to help, so that Green Team won't shoot them. Unbeknownst to them, Duck Team sneaking behind Red Team's line under the cover of darkness, and once they got close to the Green Team, Duck Team launch the attack on Green Team from Red Team line, leading Anchovy to believed that Red Team has tricked them and sided with Blue Team instead. The remaining of the Blue Team take advantage of the chaotic situation to break through on Red Team line, under strict order not to fight them. Stunned by the sudden change, Shizuka recalled that she has pulled the exact same strategy against BC Freedom in past Tankathlon match and saluting Erika as her worthy opponents. In the other place, Yellow Team and Pink Team are continuing the skirmish. However, with Katyusha able to restrain Chi-Ha-Tan's natural urges to charge (which has been expected by Darjeeling as she has done in der Film), and Yellow Team control the access point to distribution and repair center, Darjeeling has no other choice than to retreat. Despite the small victory, Katyusha suspecting that there's no way Darjeeling would let the battle goes "that normal". Meanwhile, upon learning Blue Team come to save them, Maho reluctantly rised and sighed that their short break is over, wearing her mask and ready for another battle. 'Phase 5' Everyone are overjoyed after Nishizumi Mask got revived, and expecting a turn of tide. While this sparked panic on some of the team, Yellow Team stay on their objective to lay ambush on The Distribution Center located in a shopping mall, despite the center itself is a no-firing zone. Katyusha take the first turn to rest while Chi-Ha-Tan on guard. The glorious maneuver by Blue Team has led everyone praising on the current commander, Aung-san. Nevertheless, a question mark is hanging in the air since the time is closing on the appearance of Team Oni. With Ami Chōno late arrival, everyone just assumed that Team ONI would be consisted of Shiho Nishizumi (The head of Nishizumi Style), Chiyo Shimada (The head of Shimada Style) along with Ami Chōno, as they would created a fearsome combination. However, when Asparagus confront about this, Shiho Nishizumi just replied with a mysterious smirk. While the true intention of Darjeeling is to have Ami Chōno (as representative of Nishizumi Style) and Alice Shimada (as representative of Shimada Style) along with Kikuyo Idegami to assume places as Team Oni, both Shiho Nishizumi and Chiyo Shimada propose for someone else instead, someone they called as "Onee-sama", a legendary tankette driving team that is driven only by their thirst of victory and undefeatable, even by the combination of both Shiho and Chiyo in their prime years. A veteran team that once ravaged Sensha-do competition all over Europe and lay the foundation of modern day Tankathlon! As Team Oni would be joining the game at 02:00 am sharp, Asparagus, as organizer, announced that eliminating any of Team Oni's tank would worth as 10 tanks, and it's advisable for all the team to form alliance in order to defeat Team Oni, however, the decision about that is on their own discretion. While all the teams still insisting to stay on each of their own plans, Team Oni arrived at the battlefield with two modified Type-94 tankettes. One has been super-upgraded with double autocannons, while the other is equipped with unmanned autocannon turret. They started wreaking havoc on Pink Team, quickly eliminate some of the members including Darjeeling herself, to everyone surprised. In a rapid movement, Team Oni rushed to Yellow Team position and quickly disposed Klara, Nonna and Moule along with some Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks. Unwilling to suffer the same fate, Aung-san ordered Maho and Duck Team to lead the retreat while the rest of Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe and Tategoto cover them. When Team Oni finally announced their arrival at Red Team encampment by shooting out Pierogi, against Orange Pekoe suggestion to retreat, Team Centipede and Jajka, with newly realization of the true essence of Tankathlon, bravely charged to meet Team Oni instead for a mortal battle. In lieu of the rampage, Rosehip, Maho, Erika, Bauer, Kafka, Fukuda, Bordeaux, Pepperoni, and Nina decided to detached themselves from the team and formed Anti Team Oni Task Force to help Centipede and Jajka. But in the same time, the rest of the team are still engaged on their own battle. Pink Team, led by a revived Darjeeling are pushing to the remnant of Yellow Team, led by Katyusha, which lost Nonna and Klara. Meanwhile, Alisa and Orange Pekoe led the remnant of Red Team to pursue Anchovy's Green Team and Blue Team led by Aung-San trying to reposition their forces in the battlefield. The zeal of Chi-Ha-Tan's members finally take toll as one of their tank commander collapsed due to dehydration, hampering Katyusha's plan to retreat. Not wanted to compromise the safety, Asparagus decided to hold the match and performed dust-off to save the Chi-Ha-Tan's tank commander, under the objection of Darjeeling. Darjeeling herself got caught off-guard as Anchovy took her tank down, reminding her that even with the battle between Team Oni and The Task Force took place, the colored-team battle still continues regardless. Meanwhile, Anti Team Oni Task Force continue to push Team Oni, especially after Team Oni did a record-breaking shot to immobilize Maho's tank approaching the dawn. By the time the sun rises, Team Oni, now white-flagged, return to repairing center, welcomed by salute from everyone there, but not before they manage to white-flagged almost the entire Task Force as evidence of how fierce the battle occured during the night. 'Phase 6' The clock is now at 10:00 am, and two more hours before the match end, and spectators, coming from all over Japan is flooded the battle area. Everyone is exhausted, and there are only remnants of the teams still fighting after Team Oni onslaught last night. Team Green is charging on Team Red, which have to resort to defensive position, Team Yellow are still fighting fiercely against Team Pink, and Team Blue, without any opponents left to challenge them, proceed on reconaissance activities only. Shadowed by exhaustion and undermanned, all teams trying to conserve their numbers and stamina, merely waiting for the time to over. Final Round As the day break, to everyone's astonishment Darjeeling announce that final round will be held at 15:00, leaving only 3 hours for everyone to repair and resupply, which is not enough. This led many teams to withdrawn from the tournament (by either tiredness, being unable to repair their tanks...) and leave only five tanks still operational for the final battle. Asparagus, backed-up by Chiyo and Shiho, managed to convice Darjeeling to postpone the finals and declare Blue Team, with Tategoto as champion, as temporary winner. The huge BBQ banquet party held by Saunders since the night also served as endmatch festivities. Trivia *Kuromorimine, Pravda & St. Gloriana are the only schools to be represented by two separated teams: Chindits (led by Orange Pekoe) & Guy Fawkes Team (led by Darjeeling) for St. Gloriana, Nibelungen Team (led by Maho) & Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe (led by Erika) and Katyusha's Volunteer Army (led by Nina) & Polite Girls (led by Katyusha, Nonna & Klara) for Pravda. *The name of "The Cauldron" is the reference of the name of the place during Battle of Gazala, where Rommel's Afrika Korps with Italian divisions stationed their defense against the counterattack of British XIII Corps. *All teams that don't use their true name use one that reference the country they represents: **'Centipede Team': The Centipede is one of the symbols that Takeda Clan, from which Shizuka's family descent, used as a crest. **'Chindits': Chindits were a British India special force, created by Orde Charles Wingate in 1942, that served behind Japanese lines during the Burma Campaign from 1942-1945. **'Fifth Republic Platoon': The Fifth Republic is the current French system from which former General Charles De Gaulle, which is Asparagus's name inspiration as one of De Gaulle's nickname was "The Great Asparagus" due to his extreme height (196 cm), was the founder and first president. **'Flying Tankers': This an hommage to the 1st American Volunteer Group that fight under Chinese Air Force from December 1941 to July 1942 who were nicknamed "Flying Tigers" recognizable from the Shark face nose-art on their planes. **'Guy Fawkes Team': Guy Fawkes was an English Catholic who was involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot on November 5th 1605 which consisted of blowing up Westminster Palace. On 21th century a contemporary version of Guy Fawkes mask became a symbol of anarchism and anonymity since the film adaptation in 2006 of the 1982 graphic novel V for Vendetta. That's why Darjeeling wore one to stay anonymous. **'Katyusha's Voluunter Army': It's maybe a reference to one of the anti-Bolshevik factions during the Russian Civil War. One supported by the Entente the Volunteer Army and the other (unofficialy) supported by Germans the West Russian Volunteer Army. **'Nibelungen Team': The name is a reference to Richard Wagner's opera "Der Ring des Nibelungen". While Maho's disguise is a reference to Zorori from the manga Kaiketsu Zorori. **'Polite Girls': Their name and the fact that Katyusha, Nonna & Clara are masked are a reference to the Little Green Men during the Ukrainian Crisis also known as Polite People during the annexation of Crimea because of their politeness toward the civilians on occupied area. **'Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe': The name is both a reference to various German combat groups known as Kampfgruppen during WW2 and a reference to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald in German) that sits in South West of Germany. **'Oni': The name came from a Japanese powerful supernatural demon. This reference to the fact that Team Oni once wrecked the European Sensha-do competition with their brutal style, driven by the thirst of victory. It also an expression to suggest that the team is invincible, able to outperformed both Shiho Nishizumi and Chiyo Shimada in their younger years. *Maho's Panzer II has a bucket hanged on its main cannon. This is a reference to her memory when she and Miho goes fishing riding it during their childhood moments. *Ooarai Sensha-do Team participating in The Cauldron in one or another way: **Duck Team, as the only Ooarai team with light enough tank to participate, joins The Cauldron as one of the player, being in Blue Team with Nishizumi Mask, Tategoto, and Schwarzwald Kampfgruppe. **Yukari Akiyama become one of the staff of Asparagus, as The Cauldron administrator. **Leopon Team works in the Repair Center in the middle of the battlefield, initially, with the would-be Team Oni before their eventual appearance. **Anteater Team works as dust-off safety crews, using Kuromorimine's Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache. **Hippo Team in Round 1 splits into teams A (Caesar and Oryou) and B (Ervin and Saemonza) and acts as youjimbo for Anzio and Katyusha's Volunteer Army accordingly. **Anzu Kadotani, Hippo Team, and the rest of Anglerfish Team can be seen as one of the VIP's spectators during Round 2. Or are they? *Despite Koume's remarks on their Blue Team is in disadvantages in number due having two one-tank teams, Blue Team is not the team with the least members in Cauldron. Red Team and Pink Team has the least number of tanks with 8 tanks. All other teams (including Blue) has at least 10 tanks in their posession (Blue Team itself has 10 tanks). The only major disadvantages Blue Team has is their position in the central map, which made them an obvious target by any other teams.